Anybody hear of transplanted hair falling out after 1 year?

[kramer]

Has anybody heard of transplanted hair falling out after its been growing for a few months?

 

Is something like this more likley to be caused by an improper hair transplant or the person's health, diet, age, or whatever medicine they may be taking?

 

I'm not a doctor but it seems to me that if the hair does initially grow after 3 months like it did and continue to grow for another 4 or so months and then start to thin and fallout, its more likely due to the person than the hair transplant.

 

Thanks for any comments.

 

Kramer

[kramer]

Has anybody heard of transplanted hair falling out after its been growing for a few months?

 

Is something like this more likley to be caused by an improper hair transplant or the person's health, diet, age, or whatever medicine they may be taking?

 

I'm not a doctor but it seems to me that if the hair does initially grow after 3 months like it did and continue to grow for another 4 or so months and then start to thin and fallout, its more likely due to the person than the hair transplant.

 

Thanks for any comments.

 

Kramer

[BobbyN]

Good point Kramer

 

Any takers?

 

Bobby

[tymman]

kamer - Is it you who had the HT and is experiencignthe problem?? first I'd like to know what your doc said about it. I've also heard people on this forum talking about something similar, the hair grows for a while after HT but then begins to fall out. This is the sheeding phase of HT and is a good thing (although it plays tricks with your mind).

[kramer]

Originally posted by tymman:

kamer - Is it you who had the HT and is experiencignthe problem?? first I'd like to know what your doc said about it. I've also heard people on this forum talking about something similar, the hair grows for a while after HT but then begins to fall out. This is the sheeding phase of HT and is a good thing (although it plays tricks with your mind).

 

Yes, I have the problem. I just had a 1 year follow up on the 2nd procedure and the doc noticed that it wasn't as thick as it should be. I'm not taking any medicine but am taking a bit much of Vitamin A so I have stopped taking it for now.

 

kramer

[tymman]

I'm not a doc but that sounds alot like shock loss. Have you considered Finasteride(Propecia\Proscar) and Minoxidil?? Maybe they just need a jump start to get going again.

[arfy]

There are a couple of different situations, that can get confused:

 

The dormant phase- this is when the transplanted grafts shed their hairs, and stay dormant for about three months. (After surgery, it seems like your transplanted hair is growing... a week or a few weeks later it will usually go dormant and shed). Then after about 3 months the transplanted hairs will begin to emerge and begin growing at the normal rate... about a half-inch a month.

 

Shock loss- when the surgery causes non-transplanted hair to be lost. This can hit right away, or have a few weeks lag time. Usually if you do not have shock loss in the first month or two, you are out of the woods. It's good to be using meds like Propecia as far in advance of your surgery as possible, as it not only helps prevent hair loss, it may also help prevent shock loss. Sometimes the shocked hair returns, and sometimes it doesn't. No guarantees and no rules, but generally the sturdier hairs will return, the weaker hairs do not.

 

Normal hair loss- after surgery you will still have male pattern baldness. A hair transplant doesn't prevent your hair loss from continuing. That's why I think it is important to stop hair loss from progressing first, before you even go in for surgery. Sometimes guys are losing hair after surgery... is it shock loss or is it just the normal progreession of hair loss, because a guy is still losing hair? If a guy didn't stop the progression with meds first, it could be hard to tell... maybe even a combination of both.

 

The worst possible situation is that you go in for a transplant, then you lose a lot of hair because of shock loss, and end up with LESS hair after the surgery. A transplant is supposed to give you a net gain, not a net loss.

 

There is also a situation where some grafts just don't grow. I believe this is referred to as the X factor. It is rare but some guys just lose their transplanted grafts. Maybe they don't have a stable donor area, or there may be some other reason. If you are past the 7 month mark (if I read your post right) then your hair should be growing and improving. If not, it could be doctor error, or it could be something unknown. You are entitled to a refund if the grafts don't grow.

 

However that's only half of the problem. Everybody has a very limited donor supply, so wasting grafts is a big problem that you don't want to have... you need every graft to grow, for best long term results.

[Robert_]

Another reason for grafts not surviving is that they may have been harvested outside of the "sweet spot" of the donor area. This area is below the reach of where the physician estimates that hairloss will stop at the crown and thus, is not succeptible to the ravages of DHT. Most physicians stick the area just below the occipital protrusion (the "knot" in the back of the head). Now, I don't think that this theory would hold much water since you say that a majority of the grafts simply did not grow once transplanted. It actually sounds to me like the grafts may have been damaged before being transplanted. Did you notice whether the technicians trimming the follicular-units were using microscopes or not?

 

Patient characteristics can certainly play a roll in the outcome. This is the "X Factor" that Arfy is referring to and is, unfortunately, impossible to determine before the surgery. The human body is a very complex and finicky organism and there are literally millions of variables that can influence the outcome of any kind of surgical procedure and/or medicinal outcome.

 

I am curious to know what your physician had to say about the issue in more detail. I wish you the best of luck and I am sad to hear of your less-than-expected result.

 

-Robert

[kramer]

Originally posted by Forum Moderator and Satisfied Patient:

Another reason for grafts not surviving is that they may have been harvested outside of the "sweet spot" of the donor area. This area is below the reach of where the physician estimates that hairloss will stop at the crown and thus, is not succeptible to the ravages of DHT. Most physicians stick the area just below the occipital protrusion (the "knot" in the back of the head). Now, I don't think that this theory would hold much water since you say that a majority of the grafts simply did not grow once transplanted. It actually sounds to me like the grafts may have been damaged before being transplanted. Did you notice whether the technicians trimming the follicular-units were using microscopes or not?

 

Patient characteristics can certainly play a roll in the outcome. This is the "X Factor" that Arfy is referring to and is, unfortunately, impossible to determine before the surgery. The human body is a very complex and finicky organism and there are literally millions of variables that can influence the outcome of any kind of surgical procedure and/or medicinal outcome.

 

I am curious to know what your physician had to say about the issue in more detail. I wish you the best of luck and I am sad to hear of your less-than-expected result.

 

-Robert

 

The grafts were taken from the lower part of my head as they were the 1st time I had it done. I don't think this is the issue because this guy has been doing this for years. I think it may be due to shedding as was mentioned in this forum. Still, my doctor said that its not as thick as it should be so he asked me to stop taking vitamin A which I have done.

 

Regarding if the grafts were damaged, I don't think they were because the hair did come in about 2-4 months after it was transplated. In fact, on the second transplant, I had some hair put on the bald spot (which didn't get any grafts the first time) and this hair on the bald spot is still growing.

 

In summary, I had two transplants about 1 year apart. I had some hair loss of the transplanted hair after about 7-9 months from the first transplant. Now, I am again having the transplanted hair shedding but don't know if its from the 1st, 2nd, or both transplants. The hair that was put on the bald spot during the second transplant seems to be all there for the most part.

 

Kramer

[RomeoX]

I had a HT about 10 months ago.

Growth was good. But since past 1.5 month, there has been shock hair loss.

50-100 hair fall out every day. If I comb, wash my hair, try to dry them..they jus keep on failling.

The rate at which they are falling it seems, I will be back to my original hair line in a couple of months.

@Kramer - any update? did the hair grow back? any solution?

I have started with Finastride and Vitamin tabs again.

[scooter]

I had a HT about 10 months ago.

Growth was good. But since past 1.5 month, there has been shock hair loss.

50-100 hair fall out every day. If I comb, wash my hair, try to dry them..they jus keep on failling.

The rate at which they are falling it seems, I will be back to my original hair line in a couple of months.

@Kramer - any update? did the hair grow back? any solution?

I have started with Finastride and Vitamin tabs again.

Your hair fall is most likely due to stopping the fin, happened to me before but after getting back on it, my hair returned.Thankfully

[Cryingoutloud]

Shock loss isn't going to be an issue 10 months post op.

 

If transplanted hair is falling out, it's because it's been harvested from a non-safe zone.

 

If non-transplanted hair is falling out, it's because you stopped taking your meds.

[RomeoX]

Your hair fall is most likely due to stopping the fin, happened to me before but after getting back on it, my hair returned.Thankfully

 

Its been over a month now, I am back on Finastride, and the hair fall seems to have lowered quite a bite. but still I do see a lot of hair failling off.

Especially from the back of my head.

When I wake up and look at the pillow, it has 10-15 hair on it.

 

Though hair loss is not as massive as it was a month ago, but dont know how long will it take for them, to grow back.

 

Hoping for the best

[aguafria]

This is happening to me.

 

Had HT about 11 months ago.

Have been on finasteride for years.

Had really good growth until a few months ago when I started noticing an itch in my head which seemed to coincide with a thinning.

Seems to be progressively getting worse.

[RomeoX]

So last year I went back on Fin .. Twice a week .. 1mg tabs.

The hair loss stopped.

But hair loss started again a few months back. Massive hair loss.

But it has stopped a little again.

Though I was always on fin.

[Al - Moderator]

Hair loss sometimes happens in cycles where you get a lot of fallout in a short amount of time. In some people it's a seasonal shed where it happens every year at the same time. When I was younger and had more hair I could always tell when a large shed was coming because my head got very itchy a few weeks before a lot of hair would fall out.

[Irry88]

This is happening to me.

 

Had HT about 11 months ago.

Have been on finasteride for years.

Had really good growth until a few months ago when I started noticing an itch in my head which seemed to coincide with a thinning.

Seems to be progressively getting worse.

 

Any update?

[aguafria]

Any update?

 

Sent you a PM, but I'll repeat what I said here for anyone else.

 

I'm now at 16 months and by chance started keeping a food diary.

 

Noticed whenever I would eat processed foods, particularly things with Wheat in them (Baked foods, pastries, breads, pastas) that I would always get an itchy head and I would notice hair-fall with it.

 

Took me about 1 month of keeping the diary to figure out what was causing it, just by trial and error. I've eliminated those kinds of foods now and the itch that most people seem to correlate with hair-loss and increased DHT has now gone. My hair slowly thickened over about 3 months but probably not the the level I had before the itch and hair-thinning started.

[Rashid36]

What if the donor hair is turning grey/white?

 

Is the donor area you are talking about enough to cover the whole head on top?

 

Will beard hair be resistant to dht?

[Hair2d2]

It is likely just the native hair around the transplanted hair falling out. This happens whether you are on Fin or not, just at a slower rate if you are on Fin. Unlikely the transplanted hair is falling out, but it is possible. This is why you hear people say HTs are like treadmills that never end. You will continue to lose hair. You will not GAIN new or more hair by getting a HT. And most importantly you will never has as much healthy hair follicles as you do today. But stick to Fin if you want to significantly slow the hair loss process.

[mikeey]

many patients have reported this especially with FUE , seems like its a hard reality that FUE grafts fall off after 1 year maybe due to diminished blood supply from the auto immune system . I think Dr. feller had some thruth in diminishing FUE :confused:

[matt1164]

many patients have reported this especially with FUE , seems like its a hard reality that FUE grafts fall off after 1 year maybe due to diminished blood supply from the auto immune system . I think Dr. feller had some thruth in diminishing FUE :confused:

 

some of the posters in this thread have had FUT and are experiencing the shedding as well. what's your take on that?

[Irry88]

some of the posters in this thread have had FUT and are experiencing the shedding as well. what's your take on that?

 

 

 

Yea a little hard to believe that it's just an fue thing, I have searched the forums and Google and there are also fut guys who are having issues too. Overall this problem seems to be rare I think though.

 

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do, I've already done 2700 grafts, I'm sure I can do another 2700 with another no problems , not sure I wanna do the fut scar though.

[matt1164]

Sent you a PM, but I'll repeat what I said here for anyone else.

 

I'm now at 16 months and by chance started keeping a food diary.

 

Noticed whenever I would eat processed foods, particularly things with Wheat in them (Baked foods, pastries, breads, pastas) that I would always get an itchy head and I would notice hair-fall with it.

 

Took me about 1 month of keeping the diary to figure out what was causing it, just by trial and error. I've eliminated those kinds of foods now and the itch that most people seem to correlate with hair-loss and increased DHT has now gone. My hair slowly thickened over about 3 months but probably not the the level I had before the itch and hair-thinning started.

 

I agree with what you said. certain foods cause inflammation in the body. for example, any kind of whey protein sets off my eczema and I itch for hours. I used to drink 3 whey shakes a day and my skin was horrible and in the winter I used to wake up at night just to scratch. I noticed when I stopped whey altogether no more eczema outbreaks.

[Al - Moderator]

My personal feeling is that I don't think the donor dominance theory is 100% correct in all cases. Suppose you have a bald head. The follicles are dormant, dying. Now place some hair grafts in the area. There are going to be at least some of the newly placed grafts that are going to transect the non hair bearing old follicles. It could be a large number of transections since the old follicles can't really be seen as they are not growing any hair. I find it hard to believe that when you combine 2 follicles together in that way, that the newly placed ones are going to be the dominant one that takes over every time in every person.

 

I think in some cases the dormant follicle will be the dominant one and this may depend on how the two follicles have combined to form one, so it will be different for each follicle. The hair will grow initially, but since the dormant, dying follicle takes over, the new hair quickly dies out after one or 2 cycles.

 

This is my opinion, but I have nothing to actually back it up, so it could be totally not true. However, as I said, that is my opinion on what happens in some cases.